Abyss High
by blader-chick13
Summary: AU Tale. Multiple pairings. With all those high school stories filled with angst and depression why not make one filled with smiles and good times? Welcome to Abyss High where fun is our main attraction. Will contain some shonen ai and shoujo ai.
1. Chapter 1

**Yes, this is another high school fanfiction but this time it is for the fandom of Tales of the Abyss. This chapter story will contain a wide variety of couplings and all characters will be manipulated in some fashion to better suit this tale. This is a fanFICTION: my facts -will- be different compared to the actual game so please do not tell me I have my information crossed. I've completed the game: I know.**

**Chapter knowledge required****: Cadette (grade nine, freshmen)**

**Disclaimer: Characters included belong in their game of Tales of the Abyss.**

It's another glorious year and everyone is getting ready to attend Abyss High. Those transferring from middle school are expecting great things from crossing the street to the tiny high school. Those whom have already attended for at least a year are hoping to make it through _this_ year with as little traumatization as possible. Summer in this small back country town isn't the highlight of every kids year. Those smoldering days could never be truly fun. Why? Because nothing can compare to that first moment you step into the doors to the best years of your life.

"How many of you are happy to be here this morning?" The ever cheerful Principal Peony called out to his school.

Every year this was the same routine. Their Cadette year (grade nine, freshmen) welcoming ceremony? Never in a gym like most schools. Instead it was a single voice radiating from the intercom.

Some returning classes gave moans and groans while others chorused with laughter that was far from humorous. All those new students still lingering in the halls trying to find their classes gave small cheers with big smiles.

"Liars." Came the voice again, dampening the newcomers spirits. "Now, welcome back to Abyss High all you older kids. This announcement doesn't really have anything to do with you so all you need to do is make sure to say hello to at least one new face. Also, whatever smart-alike locked my adorable PJ in the janitor's closet this morning can be promised a year of misery. That is all."

There was a buzz in the air, a rustle and finally a cough.

"What?" The principal questioned quite obviously not to the school.

A sigh from a separate being. "Principal Peony, are you not forgetting something?"

A long pause. "Uhh ..."

The intercom crackled and soon a new voice came about. "Good morning student body and welcome all Cadettes to our school. This is your vice principal Jade Curtiss speaking on behalf of the entire faculty. We hope you all have a good year here and if you have any questions at all, feel free to ask an upperclassman. They are always happy to help. Have a good day." And finally the line went dead and silence followed. The school paused a moment in case another forgotten announcement was made and then continued on with their scheduled day.

That was usually how the welcoming ceremony went. Unorganized, far from personal and definitely confusing for new students. In short, it was such a pointless play of events that even if you had arrived late it wouldn't have made a difference.

Speaking of which ...

One of the side doors gave a heavy shove and in stumbled a little being with dark gray hair tied into pigtails by yellow ribbons. Catching her balance, she cast her light brown gaze around to notice no one else wondering around.

The classic late Cadette. There was one every year.

"Need some help, little Miss?" Someone questioned from a corner.

As the new girl glanced over, she saw a rather tall man standing off to the side, his blond hair laid flat against his ears, blue eyes watching her questioningly. He was wearing a green t-shirt covered by black overalls. He held a broom in one hand and upon his right breast strap held a stitched on patch.

"_Guy_"

The little girl looked him over, brought her hands up to her face like she often did in panic and nodded her head.

"You're a Cadette, right? Did you just get here?" _Guy_ questioned.

She nodded again. "Could you tell me where the main office is?"

The janitor in question looked reluctant to respond but smiled all the same. "Of course. Just take a left through the middle hall, go all the way to the end and its on your right. Big sign: trust me, you can't miss it."

"Thank you, sir." She beamed.

Guy grinned, leaning against his broom. "Fair warning." Was all he said as she waved to him and took off down the hall.

She nearly missed the '_turn left_' but the moment she was going the correct way, she understood how she _couldn't miss it_. As her legs took her closer, the wall she saw at the end of the hall was painted with the big, blue letters of _MAIN OFFICE_, quite literally stretched to fit the entire wall. The lockers she passed varied in the four different colours of red, blue, yellow and green. Never two of the same color beside one another.

Her shoes gave a terrible squeak when she slid before the office door. Looking up at it only a moment (a bit surprised to find it an ordinary door) she latched onto the door handle, yanked it open and was before the secretary's desk immediately.

The man with dark skin and white hair didn't even look up. "Mini maps of the school. Take one." He pointed a pen to a small pile of pink paper.

The girl grabbed one for future reference but tapped her hand on his desk impatiently.

"Is there something else you need?" His voice was monotone, like he alone had the pleasure of saying that all morning.

The girl nodded. "Yes sir. I'm Anise Tatlin and I lost the schedule that got sent in the mail. Is there a chance I could talk to the principal to get another?"

This caused the secretary to look up and Anise finally got to see his face.

"You don't want to do that." He advised.

Anise blinked. Did this have something to do with that cute janitor's _fair warning_?

The secretary gave a sigh and turned to his computer. "Tatlin, was it?"

"Yes sir." She nodded with a smile. So far, everyone was quite friendly. That was good, she'd been terrified everyone would be rude and apathetic.

Something brushed against her leg, causing her to jump to the side. A baby rappig looked up at her with the most delicate of eyes. Her smile turned into a grin as she got down on her knees and patted its little head. It had a green ribbon for a collar.

"Aren't you precious? What's your name, little fella?" She questioned sweetly. Clapping her hands together, she grinned wider. "Oh let me guess it. Hmm ... Annabelle Lee?"

The rapping made a cute grunt and Anise bit her lip. "No, huh? How about Abigail? Abigail is cute."

There was a groan from the secretary and a couple footsteps from somewhere else.

Anise followed up the black boots that stepped in front of her. The older man had soft brown hair and was currently pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Actually we find him just as troublesome as our fair principal so we call him Peony Junior." He sent her a smile. "PJ for short."

Anise couldn't help but stare a moment at the mischievous red gaze from behind those glasses. She'd never seen red eyes before!

"Is there something you find of interest?" He questioned with an amused look.

Anise smiled and got to her feet with a final pat to an excited PJ's head. The secretary cut in before she managed a word. "Your schedule is printed out. Feel free to retrieve it and be on your way." He pointed this time to the photocopy machine which indeed had a paper sticking out the side.

She thanked him joyfully and brushed past the curious man before her. Picking up her times table, she looked it over and nodded to herself.

"What was the problem, Frings?" The other man questioned.

"Lost schedule; nothing major." The secretary sighed and returned to his work.

Pulling out the mini map, Anise thanked Frings once more (who waved at her) and said goodbye to the other man as she left the office.

Jade watched her go with a hidden smile. "Who-?"

"Cadette Anise Tatlin." Frings replied immediately. "And Jade?"

"Hmm?"

"Leave her alone."

"I wouldn't _dream_ of doing anything."

Poor Frings had worked with him long enough to know he was lying.

**TBC ...**

**Review, please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter knowledge required****: Sailor (grade eleven, junior)**

**Chapter contains mild shonen-ai (boy x boy).**

The first week of school may have been hectic for the Cadettes but for those well into the school system already, everything was far from a problem!

They knew where the bathrooms were and they always knew where to go. They knew what teachers you could mess around with and what ones you didn't dare step out of line.

So naturally for this group of Sailors, they spent more of their time concentrating on personal problems then on the math questions before them.

One individual alone thought that he had the most long lasting, not easily solved problem of them all. Of course, so did everybody else with troubles in their lives but this boy had a twist to his.

Not being one to receive notes in class, Luke fon Fabre was surprised when a neatly folded paper was nudged onto his desk. He didn't glance around out of fear that the ever looming Professor Van would pop up from his own shadow and start screaming incompetence.

Keeping his eyes glued to his desk, his fingers neatly undid the paper. The light crumpling in the semi silent room made him a bit nervous but he flattened out the paper no less.

_Are you okay? You have not spoken but a greeting to me all morning. That is terribly unusual._

Luke smiled, not needing a signature to recognize the loopy penmanship and polite chatter. Though upon reading this, he felt a bit guilty. Natalia never passed notes in class. Ever. She thought it terribly disrespectful to the teacher. Luke must have really worried her with his silence for her to not wait until class was over.

Sorry. It's already been two years and I've barely managed to get under his skin.

Folding the paper up, he nudged it forward to be passed up to Natalia. The reply back took a long while but Luke figured she was working on the math he was supposed to be completing as well.

_Oh Luke, I wish you would find something else to worry your time over. I understand how much you adore him but he just does not appear interested._

This wasn't the response he'd wanted to hear from her though he understood where she was coming from. Two, long and painful years was a long time to be dreaming about someone you couldn't lay a finger on. Well, he _could_ but then he'd just freak him out more then he already had.

He could change his mind with my persistence.

Right? Sometimes people just needed that extra push to get things started.

_Luke: two years is not persistence. That's an obsession._

Well he already knew that. He'd adored this man since the first time he'd spotted him. The cheesy love at first sight that could never be. He had the option of attempting to lose these misplaced feelings but ... why? He was content enough with the one sided chatter for now even if his patience was at its wits end.

Well it's a brand new year and maybe this year he'll reconsider. I'm another year older!

He felt like he was so close (in a sense), he couldn't just suddenly give up!

_HE is another year older as well. Luke, please promise me something. If things do not work out by the end of the year or you make no progress: move on._

Those were some pretty tough terms. He couldn't promise that, no matter how much he hated worrying Natalia.

I can only promise I'll try.

When Natalia got the note and read the message, she gave a sigh and slipped the note into her pocket. It was then that Luke knew their conversation had ended on rocky ground.

--

Our lovely janitor Guy had difficulty choosing his favorite time of day. Considering what he did and who he worked with, he barely had a chance to be alone in his own head. It had taken a whole year of being here to figure out that lunch was that time and another whole year to really, really appreciate it.

During lunch hours, he was so busy cleaning up everybody else's mess that he had no chance for fellow faculty to tease him and no chance for a particular student to bother stepping anywhere near him.

It was bliss!

"Hey sweet thang."

Oh god ... a chill ran straight through Guy's spine, mop halted halfway through a proper stroke. He didn't even _want_ to look up.

"Good afternoon, Luke." He spoke and forced himself to look up at the particular student with a smile. The smile, he knew, was like a trap but it was in his nature to be polite. He looked back down to the floor to continue his work.

An extremely uncomfortable silence followed for Guy. Even his movements in mopping were jerky and unprofessional. It was nerve wracking to Luke to be anywhere near him.

Why him?

There was a tap and Luke gave a laugh. "Is this sign supposed to keep me here?" He questioned, picking up Guy's _fixed_ sign of HALL TEMPORARILY CLOSED.

Guy leaned against his mop and motioned down with his other hand. "Hey, hey. Put that back. That's school property."

The redhead looked it over, shrugged and replaced it where he retrieved it. Glancing back up at Guy, he smiled.

Our janitor shifted and tried to keep a firm expression. "Look Luke-"

"I really, really ..." Luke took a sharp, loud breath in, "like you ..." a sickening silence. "A lot ..."

Luke looked as uncomfortable and out of place as Guy felt. Neither moved. Neither breathed.

How was Guy supposed to say anything to _that_ face?

Luke stood beside the sign and kept his gaze at a slant.

Being the braver of the two for the situation, Luke picked up one foot and turned his body in slow motion. Each one of his steps was like walking on glass with bare feet. Lucky for them both, Luke was around the hall corner in moments.

It was only then that either learned to breath again. Guy put his hand over his mouth and relied heavily that his mop wouldn't give way under his weight.

His stomach gurgled and Guy felt like he was being crushed in such a confusing fashion.

Why him ...? Why _him_ ...?

"Oh my, what a dilemma."

This was not Guy's day at all. The janitor turned around, refusing to let his mop hold him up anymore. He looked highly conflicted. "Look, Jade, it wasn't what it looked like."

"And what was it supposed to look like?" Vice Principal Jade questioned, his grin ever so vibrant.

That was a good point. What _was_ it supposed to look like?

"I swear I didn't do anything to provoke it."

"Of course not. You were just being your regular self."

"Exactly!"

Jade continued to smile but he kept silence. It was only until Guy replayed that road of conversation did he realize why Jade was having so much fun teasing him. Guy _hadn't_ done anything, he _was_ just his regular self. And Luke fell for that. Quite hard actually. If the boy thought he hadn't gotten under Guy's skin, then he wasn't paying attention.

"Alright, I know I know. It's not like he's a bad kid or anything. You've seen him run around as much as I have." Guy tried.

Jade chuckled. "Oh I doubt that. I spent most of my time making sure our principal doesn't escape his office to interrupt classes with his ramble."

The sad part about that being was that Guy could imagine that being the furthest thing from a lie. "Speaking of which, why are you even here?"

Jade waved his finger in the air and made a quiet _tsk tsk_ noise. "Now now, don't change the subject. And if you must know, I took the liberty to install a door handle that will lock from the outside. He should be perfectly harmless."

Guy's mouth fell open. "You locked Peony inside his office? Are you mad?"

"I like to think I'm perfectly sane. Your opinion matters quite little. Now about this little conversation I happened to ever so innocently stumble across."

Bull. Jade probably followed Guy around to see if anything interesting was going to happen to him today. "You _can't_ tell Peony. You _can't_."

Jade smiled and put his hands behind his back. "Of course not. That is, naturally, if you speak the truth to my following question."

Guy's entire spirit fell. He _hated_ Jade's questions. Why? Because they were always that one single question that could pin you down in a corner with no way out. And with the thought of Peony knowing (it was bad enough Jade knew) he really had no other option.

"Fine." Guy grumbled reluctantly. "Ask your question."

"Excellent." Jade smiled. "So what do you plan to do now?"

Guy blinked, waiting for the explanation.

"A young man to whom has been following you around for two years now has finally gotten up the courage to tell you why. Though I doubt that sorry display was the moment he envisioned, I doubt it really matters now. The truth is out in the open. So: what do you plan to do now?" Jade elaborated.

"Uhh ..." Guy babbled and then contemplated the idea.

So what was his course of action? He'd been dreading the day Luke finally gained up the courage to tell him he'd been Guy's personal stalker from the day he entered high school. A little extreme but through Guy's vision, he was pretty much dead on.

As he said to Jade earlier, Luke wasn't a bad guy. Sure he seemed to have his faults like everybody else but he seemed like a good friend. He was always hanging around that blond girl Natalia. Always smiling and laughing and generally having a good time. He didn't seem like a bad kid: he was never wandering the halls during class or anything like that. He made it to everything on time and was never late. If asked to run an errand for certain teachers, he would gladly do so.

But that was where the problem lied. Luke was a brilliant _student_. Guy couldn't ...

"Ignore it."

"Hmm?" Jade hummed. "Come again?"

"I'll ignore it. Like he never said anything to me. It'll just make him more awkward whenever he sees me, right? I mean, I don't want to bug him or anything. He has his studies to think about. He's a Sailor, he only has two years left. He can't spend that time on me, he has much more important things to think about." Guy nodded firmly.

Jade just stared at him a moment but then gave a smile. A short laugh followed. "You never cease to surprise me."

Guy grinned. "What, with how brilliant I am?"

The vice principal shifted his feet and stood in a fashion that indicated he was going to leave.

"With how naive you are."

**TBC ...**

**Review, please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the delay: I forgot to post this. It just makes it more horrible how late this is because it was never meant to be a hugely significant chapter.**

Abyss High has many things that they celebrate. Some things we would consider ridiculous but others were held in the highest honor. By nature, the school praised academic achievement for those very few students that couldn't excel in anything else. While physical activity is supposed to be a privilege, here it would forever remain mandatory. Too many students with sharp tongue and quick reflexes to _not_ make self defense and offense absolutely necessary. Could you possibly imagine all the chaos, violence and law suits there would be? They'd have to start putting up security cameras and spend money they didn't have on stuff they certainly didn't need. Nothing a couple of beat downs couldn't solve that is.

The most common sport played here was track 'n field. Although track 'n field contains many events, all were quite popular at Abyss High. If you could run, jump or throw, you were worshiped. So, naturally, if you could do all three then everybody knew you.

This was the case for a lovely pair of half brothers: Sync and Ion.

The two were both gifted with an incredible athletic talent that the father they shared lacked completely. Both were also intellectual but it was the track where they soared and challenged themselves.

However, it wasn't because of this that everyone knew who they were ...

"Sync: you're slipping. You've not only lost your usual enthusiasm but you've added seconds to your average rate. Is something the matter?" Leave it to Professor Largo (combat teacher) to rub in your faults.

At least, that was how Sync saw him.

"Ah, come on Professor. Sync is just tired, aren't you?" Ion bent down to glance over at Sync, who was bent over and panting slightly.

Look at that smug look, that taunting expression. Ion was completely mocking him and he was enjoying this-

"I'm fine! I'm not tired, shut up!" Sync snapped angrily and stood up immediately, looking up at Largo rather desperately. "Honest sir, I can do better. Nothing is the matter but I guess I just got a bit distracted. I've been putting in a lot of extra training hours."

Ion blinked and then grinned which Sync only glared at. Ion didn't notice.

Largo looked hopelessly between the two and gave a short sigh. "Maybe you should take a rest then while Ion takes his laps. Go on, on the bench." He pointed which Sync knew he'd have to go along with. _No_ wasn't a word in Largo's vocabulary because apparently there was no such thing as a limit to natural talent.

Ion smiled to Sync as he passed. "You can have some of my water if you want."

"I don't need your damn water! Run your stupid laps." He growled and waved at him as he slumped onto the bench, glaring at Largo. The teacher didn't miss it but instead he chose to ignore it. Pulling up his stop watch again, he looked from it to Ion and then nodded his head toward the track. It was a regular course and this was regular _special_ attention. Ion turned to face the track in his white shirt three times as big as he was and the dark gold shorts that went down to his knees. Almost as soon as he was in a proper position, Largo gave the command and Ion took off.

Sync turned his head in disgust.

"You're awfully rude." A voice condemned Sync from behind. "A complete jerk; what's the matter with you?"

He turned around so quickly that his head spun and it took a moment to realize that whomever was behind him was certainly someone he'd never seen before in his life. He just stared at this dumb little girl with gray ponytails and red ribbons before deciding to ignore her completely.

"I see you're one to prove the point too. Perfect: my first attempt at student socialization and he's an idiot. So Mr. Perfect, why are you sitting on the bench instead of running like that kid over there?"

Sync growled lightly, hoping she'd take it as a warning to back off. Too bad he didn't already know her.

"Excuse me?" She snapped and stomped her way around so she was standing right in front of him. Even sitting, Sync was the same height as her: and he was slouching.

She was glaring at him with poison in her gaze. "I haven't even met you yet and I already don't like you. How can you be so mean to that kid when he was only trying to be polite? What's the matter with you?"

"And who are you?" Sync replied, trying his best to settle his frustrated nerves into a more calm and mockery state.

"Anise Tatlin and I think you owe that boy an apology." She pointed.

Sync scowled at her a moment before the expression slipped into something more '_you're-nothing-but-scum_'. "I owe him nothing. Besides, he should be used to it by now and I have no idea why I need to explain myself to some little twig that can't take the hint to take a hike!"

"Who: me?" She questioned and pointed now to herself as innocently as she could manage.

The boy didn't even bother to try and cover up his distaste. "Stop distracting me. Go ... do homework or something. Don't you have class?"

"I'm on an errand from Vice Principal Curtiss." She replied quickly.

"Then shouldn't you be doing that?"

"I am. I'm supposed to talk with Professor Largo, Master of Combat."

"He's right behind you so why not leave me alone now?"

"I thought you might have been someone worth my interest. Thanks so much for proving me wrong."

"Excuse me?!"

"Oh Professor! Professor! Could I have a word?"

Sync couldn't believe how she could have done that: flip him off like he didn't exist at all. Nobody ever did that!

"Hey!" He called to her but she was already speaking with Largo. She looked very excited and from afar, Sync couldn't tell if she was just trying to act cute to win the teacher's favor or if that was how she normally acted.

What a freak.

**--**

"Professo– ohh my gosh, I am _so_ sorry!!" Anise called, covering her face as she turned her body.

The boy she'd caught with his shirt half way off was Ion, who stood there wondering what on earth was so horrifying. "Uhh ... hello. Can I help you?"

Anise shock her head intensely, hands still over her face. "Mmm, 'm so sorry ... I didn't realize where I was going."

Ion laughed as he grabbed a regular t-shirt and pulled it on. "I understand. I was a bit confused too when I came here. The middle school doesn't have change rooms after all. Probably a big surprise." He looked around like he was scanning over very familiar territory. Which ... it was.

That wasn't exactly what Anise was surprised to find ... "Is Professor Largo around?"

"He should be in his office. Come on, I'll take you there." Ion replied cheerfully.

Anise was quiet a moment before her voice popped up again. "This is going to come out weird but ... are you changed now?"

"Wha-? Of course!" Ion grinned and waited for Anise to turn around (very cautiously ...) before waving her toward him. "This way."

Anise looked a bit spooked to move anywhere but this only caused Ion to laugh. He scooted over to her and snagged up one of her hands with a wide grin. "No need to be scared: I'm the only one here so you don't have to worry about anybody else popping out behind lockers. Coach Largo's office is this way." He spoke, tugging at her hand while she just let him pull her along.

Over the break from when she'd encountered Sync and when she had to return to the Vice Principal afterward, she'd found out they were half brothers:

"_That's correct." Jade spoke with a smile. "They are the greatest pair of rivals to ever come to Abyss High: even greater then Luke and Asch though neither would ever admit to such a thing."_

"_Who?" Anise questioned._

"_A pair of hooligans." Principal Peony put in before Jade got to reply. Anise looked over at him curiously as he leaned forward. "You'll notice them: they aren't hard to miss. The one with long hair isn't some one you should get mad unless you're someone like Jade or I who can get away with it but the one with short hair isn't someone you want to get mad either." Peony thought over what he said and leaned back to ponder it._

"_He has a much more playful reaction." Jade added._

_Anise made a face. "Playful on who's part?"_

"_Ours, naturally." Jade smiled and Anise shifted her feet. In the couple weeks she'd known him, she still wasn't sure if she should be uncomfortable or just flat out terrified of him._

_Anise placed her hands on her hips. "Well whoever they are, one of them certainly has a really bad attitude. Someone should teach him a lesson in manners and respect."_

"_Oh, I agree completely. Do us the honors, will you?" Peony smiled, folding his fingers before him and resting his chin there._

"_He's really rude and he was so mean to that other boy. For no reason!!" Anise grumbled._

_Jade chuckled. "Oh, the fact that the other exists is plenty of reason for the one you speak of to hate him."_

_Anise tried processing that._

"_The one your talking about is named Sync. The one he was being rude to was most likely Ion. They're half brothers." Jade tried again._

"_Half brothers? Really?" Anise gasped._

_Peony nodded. "Sync needs a good back hand if you ask me."_

"_We didn't." Jade replied quickly, making the gesture to roll his eyes._

_The principal ignored him. "I think you'd get along perfectly with Ion though: such a helpful boy and you never see him without a smile. So unlike his brother ... or his father for that matter ... like father like son, I suppose."_

_Jade didn't even bother to comment that Peony shouldn't have been putting down parents. Not because he didn't have anything to say but because it was just too difficult to disagree._

"Are you Ion?" Anise questioned as Ion turned right and nearly nailed himself with an open locker door.

As he closed it, he turned to give her a smile. "I am, why do you ask?"

She grinned, energy filled her. "No reason: I'm-"

"Anise Tatlin, right? Sync told me every bad thing he could possibly come up with about you. Though ... you don't look like a Gorgon to me. You're quite pretty."

Anise flushed lightly at the random compliment.

"So ... do you mind if I ask why you need to see Coach? It seemed important." Ion questioned softly.

"Ah!" Anise perked up. "Vice Principal Curtiss thought I'd be a lot more productive in a Combat class then Artes so we're trying to see if Professor Largo can fit me into one of his classes."

"Really? That's amazing! Maybe you'll be in one of my classes. It's possible. My brother and I both have double Combat periods with different classes. Different grades to be exact."

"Wow ..." Anise gushed lightly. "You must be really strong ..."

Ion glanced back and gave her a smile. "I'm not the greatest but I get by."

"He certainly does." A deep voice cut into their conversation.

Ion halted before Professor Largo with a grin, still holding onto Anise's fingers. "Thank you, sir. I'm honored."

Largo waved at Ion to move to the side, which he complied to easily. "I can take it from here, Ion. Best head to your next class."

"Yes, sir." He nodded and gave a slight bow. He turned to Anise, gave her a smile and a wave before turning on his heels and leaving.

Anise watched him go with a little interest. What an adorable kid ...

"So." Largo's voice carried her back to the topic on hand. "What's this I hear about you having a fighting spirit?"

**TBC ...**

**Review, please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter knowledge required: Pilot (grade twelve, senior)**

By the time the fist fight had ended, Asch harbored a split lip and swollen jaw while Genji was cradling a bloody nose and black eye. Nobody gathered around to watch or cheer anyone on. They didn't need to since the fight broke out in the hallway. Also considering who was involved and that it was after school, there were barely any people there.

There was a screech of sneakers and the two turned to see a very agitated Guy.

"Not agaiiiinnnnn ..." He moaned. "Genji, get some paper towel to clean up that blood and Asch, go to the office to get ice for your jaw. How many times do I have to tell you that if you want to duke it out, _don't_ do it in the halls! Go outside and off school property so _I_ don't have to clean it up. As a Sailor and a Pilot, you should know this by now." Guy scolded but his expression said he was tired of this.

The two students felt a bit of guilt and silently turned to opposite directions. As Genji walked around the corner, Asch passed by a signing janitor.

"You don't always have to solve it with violence. She'd going to catch on soon if she hasn't already." Guy advised.

Asch huffed and fixed his shirt. "Don't you have your own love problems to worry about?"

Guy bristled and fought to say something but it was too hard. He could guess that he learned that fact from Natalia but-

"You better keep that to yourself!" Guy shouted finally but Asch was long gone. The blond gritted his teeth uncomfortably and waited in silence for Genji to return.

The redhead pushed the door open almost as quietly as he could. Unfortunately, the office door had rusted hinges nobody wanted to replace.

"Another fight?" Came Frings voice with a sigh. Why did everyone have to react that way? He pushed his chair back without much hesitation. "I'll get the peas."

Asch stood there awkwardly, rocking about on his heels. The silence lasted a bit longer until a familiar gasp made Asch turn right.

Natalia had her head poked around the principal's doorway with a pile of paper crushed against her chest.

"What happened?" She hollered, scampering over to him. Reaching up, she pressed a hand to his cheek.

Asch flinched away and didn't meet her eyes. "Just a little scrap. Nothing big."

Natalia made a harsh sound of disbelief. "_Nothing big _does not land you with a swollen jaw."

The redhead kept silent. Natalia stared at him and sighed through her nose. Footsteps were heard and Frings returned with a bag of frozen peas.

"Sit there. The principal will most likely want a word with you." Frings pointed to a chair and Asch turned to the door.

Like hell he was going to listen to that idiot babble about nothing again and if Frings thought for a minute that he was going to shoulder that crap-

He bristled in annoyance. It was just one, stupid little fight and everyone was acting like he'd killed the guy. Maybe if Geni wasn't always muttering covetousness behind his back, then maybe he wouldn't have to always beat him back into place.

Natalia patted his shoulder and turned him around (with high reluctance) and handed him the bag of frozen peas. "I will not ask but can you not ... lay off a bit?"

As Asch looked at her, he knew that wouldn't be possible so he kept his mouth shut, took a seat and applied the peas.

Poor Natalia wasn't quite sure what to do so she simply stood there looking from Frings (who was on his computer) to Asch (who was glaring at the floor).

"Ready for a lecture?" A voice chimed into the silence, where all three looked to see Jade leaning against the doorframe of Peony's office.

"Goodness, I did not even hear you arrive." Natalia spoke. Frings looked unfazed and thus stared back at his computer screen while Asch got to his feet with a glare to the vice principal.

"Beat it, old man. I'm not listening to your bull."

"Asch!" Natalia snapped, clearly appalled by his choice of words and lack of respect.

He didn't look at her but by the way his fingers shook, it was evident that he was fighting his own temper.

Jade was all too amused with the sight. Natalia had Asch wrapped around her finger whether either of them realized it or not. "Come now, since where do I ever say anything irrelevant?"

"Come on in, Asch." The voice of the _babbling idiot_ came from the room behind Jade. "The faster you do, the sooner you can go home."

Asch didn't like how happy either of them sounded. He wiggled is fingers to calm himself and darkened his glare.

Jade gave an exaggerated sigh. "I'd tell you to stop glaring of your face will stay that way but I'm afraid it wouldn't make much difference."

"Shut the hell up, old man!" Asch shouted, stomping his foot down. Jade shrugged and slipped into the office with a smile. The redhead knew he would have to follow so he did so with as much noise as possible. He didn't even leave time for Natalia to process what to say ... or do!

The door slammed behind him and Asch stood still with his arms crossed. "What?"

Peony leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms. "Sit! Relax! Where's the harm in some friendly conversation?"

Asch scowled. "I can get better conversation out of a toothpick."

"How delightful" Peony smiled, clearly pleased with the remark.

This naturally left the redhead quite confused and so he stood there a bit awkwardly, not sure how to react. He stuck with glaring since it had always worked for him in the end.

"Now, Asch. This bickering between you two has to stop. Effective immediately."

'_He always says this..._' Asch complained to himself and tried his best to not find the ceiling more interesting.

Peony had his eyes closed and he was waving a finger high in the air. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can be settled in other matters."

"Have you _left_ your office? Ever?" Asch snapped.

Jade pushed himself into the conversation. "He hasn't but I have and I must say that you two are a prime example of what life is like in this school."

Peony snorted loudly. "As if my school would ever be so terrible."

The room went silent.

"Well, that aside, this problem has easily be solved." Jade spoke up after a moment.

Asch glanced over, actually amused. "Really? How?"

"Get married."

The room went silent once more.

"What?" Two voices chorused. Asch looked ready to break something and Peony looked ready to chock on his own vomit.

"Keep out of this, old man!" Asch shouted, clearly upset.

Peony rubbed his face and looked at Jade with disbelief. "What would possess you to ever suggest marriage? The beauty of being a bachelor would be lost forever. Not even a sliver of hope would ever remain. How could you suggest something so ... so ... _vial_ to one of our very own students? Shame on you, Jade. Shame."

The vice principal looked irritated but said nothing. Peony then turned to Asch and raised another finger. "Now listen here, boy. I'm going to tell you this once and if you never listened to a single thing I've ever said to you before, listen to this now. Marriage is like putting out a grease fire with your face: it's just stupid."

"Argghh!" Asch shouted, turned and had absolutely no regret in storming out of that office and slamming the door as hard as he possibly could behind him. From within the office, one could hear Natalia gasp in surprise and Frings drilling the boy about wrecking school property.

Peony turned to Jade with a smile. "Well, I think that went well."

Jade glanced over at him through the corner of his eye and put his hand in his pocket. He said nothing as he too ventured toward the door. Slowly, he opened it and Peony watched him. Jade closed the door with barely a noise. The Peony heard a jingle and the color drained from his face. The Principal practically flew from his chair and rushed over to the door just as a click sounded through his office. He tugged on the door handle with a heavy heart.

"No, no, no! Jade! Open this door. Its after school, everybody is leaving. I have to go home. Frings, are you still there? Frings, has Jade left yet? Jade? Open the door! I really, really have to go to the bathroom. Jade? Jaaaaade!"

**TBC ...**

**Review, please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Warning: Chapter contain shoujo ai (girl x girl)**

**Forgive the lateness: exam time.**

After the fight, Genji spent most of his time moaning over the pain that throbbed from the center of his face. He would constantly touch his nose, flinch and then do it again. It was bruised and a bit swollen. He wasn't worried over how it messed up his face, just over the pain that never seemed to cease.

Damn, Asch could really throw a punch. Talk about fists of iron...

Currently, he reached up to touch it once more only to have his hand slapped away.

"Stop that." A pretty, little blond scowled him. Her hair was pushed back by a red hair band and she had gold hoop earrings in her ears. "You're just making it hurt worse."

Genji scowled down his nose to the table. "Well it's not like I can do anything to help it. Not even Healing artes are doing much."

"You could _not_ get in fights over some girl." Another female's voice chimed in. She had long, dull brown hair and pretty blue eyes.

"Don't talk about Natalia like that. She isn't just _some girl_. She's polite-"

The blond grinned and fluttered her eyelashes, "-and beautiful-"

Then the brunette put her hands beneath her chin and looked dreamy, "-and completely amazing on every single level."

Genji glared at both of them and got to his feet. On his way up though, the blond grabbed his wrist to tug him back down.

"I'm not going to sit here and have you all bash Natalia." He protested.

"We're not." Noelle stated, tugging on her brother's wrist again. "We're making fun of you because ... well, I'm not sure about Tear but I've _never_ seen you so head over heels for anyone before. It's cute. As your sister, I have teasing rights, just like you bug me over my crushes."

Taking that into consideration, Genji rolled his eyes and reluctantly returned to his seat.

Tear looked at his pained expression and smiled from across the table. "I just tease you because you use that exact same line whenever you describe her. Can't you be a little more creative?"

Noelle giggled behind her hand but reached over to pat her brother's back sympathetically. "I realize how much you adore her but you shouldn't try and break them up. Asch and Natalia have been together for ... pretty much ever."

"And they're our high school sweethearts. If anything happens to them, all hope is lost for us." Tear added.

"Move on, Genji. You're only making everyone miserable, especially yourself." Noelle begged.

Genji lowered his head and yanked on the back of his hair. "But I don't _want_ to move on. It's not like this will go away on it's own anyway. I might as well try or I'll really regret it."

There was silence for a moment before Noelle leaned over and placed a kiss to his temple and gave him a hug. "I just don't want to see you make yourself miserable. Perk up, okay? There are plenty of other girls around."

Tear stared at Noelle and shook her head. "That's terrible advice. Don't tell him that. He'll become a player and break all the little girl's hearts."

Oddly enough, Genji cracked a smile and even gave a laugh. Noelle also grinned, glad to hear her brother laughing again.

"That's alright. At least them, he could find out that love comes in all sorts of forms." She smiled.

Genji glanced over at her and leaned against his hand. "And you're the expert?"

"Building up to it." She replied, still grinning brightly.

--

When the bell rang for lunch, Noelle remained seated. Normally, everyone raced out but she just couldn't bring herself to do so. She stayed where she was, wiggling her thumbs.

"Problem, Noelle?"

The blond jumped slightly as she looked up to face her Artes teacher, Ms. Legretta.

"Umm ... sort of ..."

"This about your progress?" The teacher question, placing one hand on her table while the other went to her hip.

'_She can read me like an open book..._' Noelle mused to herself.

Legretta stared at her as she gave no response but looked even more guilty. Breathing a sigh, the teacher took a seat across from her and placed her hands on the table. "Noelle, everyone has the capability to do artes. Some get it right away, some can become very powerful while others are late bloomers. Like you."

"I'm not a _late_ bloomer, I haven't bloomed at all nor will I ever!" Noelle protested. "I never got the special gene."

Legretta shook her head. "You _are_ born with it but its not a gene and you know it. You only need to-"

"I wasn't built for artes, Miss." She cut in but immediately regretted it as Legretta raised an eyebrow. It was something she did to intimidate people instead of yelling. She was the master of numerous powerful and extremely painful artes: the look alone frightened people. "Sorry."

She seemed to accept that and continued, "You only need to concentrate better and focus. Self doubt in exactly what is holding you back. I know you can focus, Noelle. You do well in all your other classes, correct?"

Noelle nodded, going back to her thumbs.

"So ... what is so difficult about my class?"

"I guess I'm just distracted."

"Distracted?"

"...more like terrified."

Legretta looked a little confused at first but then slowly slipped into a smile. Reaching across the table, she placed her hands over Noelle's and gave them a little squeeze.

"You can't be scared of life anymore." She spoke softly.

Noelle managed a smile but it wasn't very confident. "I know. It's just that everyone seems so prepared, so ready to get out and do things and I just can't understand how it seems so easy ... speaking of easy, you class is far from it. No regular person could pass it.

Legretta chuckled and patted Noelle' hands. The girl grinned, hoping the teacher would take the bait to change the subject. The one they were leading up to was both too frightening and too depressing for Noelle's tastes.

"I make my class difficult so I can get the pleasure of flunking children who think they can win in life by cheating." Legretta smirked, clearly amused.

Noelle looked at her with a mixed expression and her lips curled in a way that looked like she was ready to laugh. "How do you cheat in artes?"

"Incantations, stance, copying essays on the good and bad points of healing artes - you'd be surprised. Homework in my class _is_ actually worth more then being able to perform the arte. It's more about ... understanding the arte and how to do it."

"Seriously?" Noelle gasped. "Geeze, maybe I should start cheating ..."

"Don't. You're more brilliant then that." Legretta shook her head.

Noelle laughed. "But, in all seriousness, I _do_ need to pass this class. Is there anything at all you can recommend?"

"Well ..." Legretta contemplated. "There aren't many study notes, everything relies on the individual. I could ... tutor you. You may find it easier with one and one sessions."

Clearly excited by the idea, Noelle nodded enthusiastically. Legretta shook her head however. "No listen, Noelle. I don't mind giving you the extra attention but if this effects you other course - especially mine - negatively, you'll have to find another tutor." Then more affectionately, she added, "I don't want to have to fail you."

Noelle sat up straight, pulling her hands from Legretta's grasp to place them in her lap. She looked completely determined. "You can count on my full attention, Miss."

The teacher stood and made her way around the table. Noelle tilted her head to look up at her curiously. Legretta bent down and placed a quick kiss to her lips and then a peck to her nose.

Noelle smiled gently in response as Legretta wandered toward the front of the class.

"What are you doing? Don't just daze out, get your books back out!" Legretta snapped and Noelle was forced to push away the buzzing feeling in her stomach so she wouldn't get yelled at again.

--

"Is it possible to fire myself?" Guy questioned.

Jade laughed lightly. "Don't be silly, Guy. It's called quitting and don't act so hopeful: you're not leaving."

The blond groaned, leaning against the wall like it was his life line. "Please Jade, don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"I'm just checking up everyone's favorite janitor is all, is that really so bad?"

"Yes." Guy replied shortly. Pushing himself off the wall, he sighed and glancing back over at the vice principal. "Look, my problems are my problems. I don't _need_ your help to figure them out. They've invaded my head enough to drive me insane."

"The longer you wait, the worse it's going to get." Jade offered.

Clearly he'd caught Guy in a very bad mood because the blond almost immediately snapped back, "I don't need your advice either. Please Jade, can you just leave already?"

"I never knew you were so sensitive, Guy." Jade looked a little surprised. "Perhaps that's one of the qualities Luke finds so fascinating."

"Argh!" Guy would have exploded on the spot if it were at all possible. Running a hand through his hair, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was alright, it was okay. This was just Jade being Jade. The tension lessened slowly and soon Guy wasn't finding it so hard to breath.

A pair of running feet split through the near silent hallway, causing Guy to look up curiously. "Noelle?"

The girl skid to a halt right in front of him and gave him a quick salute, her grin wide on her face. "The one and only."

Guy gave her a smile, glad for the change in mood. "What are you still doing in school? Lunch is just about over, don't you have a spare third block?"

"And I usually go out for that extended lunch with Genji but Genji is in detention and I had to get some tutoring done." Noelle nodded her head as she explained.

Guy looked at her with curiosity. "Tutoring? Since when?"

Noelle grinned. "Since today. Ms. Legretta offered to give me the extra attention in hopes I'd catch on."

"Still having troubles with that class, huh?"

Noelle looked a bit sheepish but nodded. "I-"

"Would you excuse me?" Jade cut in and Guy nodded, not really caring at this point and the vice principal wondered off. Noelle watched him go for only a moment before she picked up from where she left off.

"I just can't seem to grasp them, you know? I mean, I can do all my other classes just fine but for the past three years, I've only barely managed to scrap by a passing mark. The only way I pass anything in the course is the written tests."

Guy chuckled and gave a nod. "I know what you mean. Artes wasn't my favorite course when I was in school either and it certainly wasn't my best either."

Noelle gave him an odd look. "Guy: you're great at artes. I've seen you stage fight with Largo in Combat class before."

"Have you ever seen me use artes like the ones they teach you in Legretta's class? Anything that requires an incantation isn't something I can really pull off. All the artes I know revolve around my swords."

Noelle looked thoughtful. Then it hit her: that was exactly true. She'd seen Guy fight once during one of her Combat classes and she never once heard in use any sort of incantation. At the time she'd just thought he was _that_ good but maybe she'd given him a bit too much credit.

Suddenly, Noelle was extremely excited. "Could you teach me something?"

Guy looked a little shocked by the request but then laughed it off. "I'm not much of a teacher but I could give you a couple pointers as your lessons go on."

"Well, what did you find so hard about Artes?" Noelle questioned, looking a bit disappointed.

Guy grinned. "Pretty much everything. I'm more hands on when it comes to work which would explain also why I became a janitor. Legretta has changed her lessons a lot from when I was in school though and that's only been a few years. She used to have her lessons be completely about performance until pretty much every student in her Cadette class failed miserably. She's really stepped out of the teaching method she's used to using."

"Really?" Noelle looked interested.

"Which just makes it even more strange that she would even consider giving you extra lessons." He added and then glanced down at the girl. "What, are you _that_ bad?"

"Yeah actually. I really _am_ failing that miserably."

"Wow ..." Guy laughed. "Well, you better not take it for granted. Legretta wouldn't do that if she didn't have high expectations for you so you better make sure you pay attention and make sure to listen to everything she says."

Noelle nodded with a grin. "Thanks, Guy. I really appreciate the advice."

"Oh and listen mostly to the stuff she over explains. Everyone writes it off as being irrelevant but it's actually what she bases a lot of her stuff on. That's why so many people fail her class."

Noelle chuckled. "She thinks they cheat."

Guy looked confused. "How do you cheat in artes?"

"Ask her that."

--

Legretta glanced back at her door as she heard it click open. At first she was curious but when she saw who it was that had entered her classroom, she ignored it.

"Good afternoon." Jade spoke with a smile but Legretta didn't even look at him. He knew the teacher wasn't one to beat around the bush so as he closed the door, he got right down to it. "I hear you're giving extra lessons to Noelle. That's ... abnormally kind of you."

"I have no reason to see her fail my class. Artes is a mandatory class to graduate." Legretta spoke simply.

Jade didn't even bother to laugh. "You_ thrive_ on failing your students."

"I fail those that don't put effort into it. Noelle tries very hard in my class but she just doesn't seem to grasp anything. Perhaps explaining things to her once more will help clear her mind." The blond explained though she didn't know why she had to.

"As true as that is, I doubt you're telling me_ the_ truth. In that really _all_ you're teaching her?" Jade pressed.

Legretta turned to stare at him with a pretty bored expression. "I'm not going to be giving you the reaction you're looking for. I'm teaching her nothing else other then Artes."

"Then it must be in the reward system." Jade pushed.

She gave a sigh before her expression went back to normal. "You enjoy prying into people's lives, don't you?"

"A relationship with a student can be hazardous if parents or peers were to find out." Jade warned her. Legretta was a smart woman so he was well aware that she already knew this but he figured he'd remind her just to be safe.

Legretta only shrugged a single shoulder, turning back to her board. She began writing on it as she spoke, "So you've come to tell me I have to break her heart to please yourself?"

"No." Jade replied which actually surprised the blond. She halted her writing and glanced back over her shoulder. "Then why confront me about it?"

"Simply because you're fooling yourself. One of you will wind up getting hurt."

Legretta actually smiled, turning back to her board. "I doubt you care about that. Personal matters have never mattered to you before, you just enjoy playing with everyone elses."

"Are you simply stringing her along then?" Jade questioned, determined to get the answer he wanted.

Legretta said nothing until she was finished what she needed to on the board. He placed the chalk on it's ledge and then turned to the vice principal. "Make no mistake, I do love her. However, she is young and once she graduates, she'll have forgotten all about me. She'll grow up to be a beautiful woman and live life as if I never existed."

Jade stared at her. "And you're ... _okay_ with this?"

"I am." Legretta nodded. "Because for one moment in time, I was the one who got to call her my own."

That was when Jade actually fell silent. He had always had Legretta figured out pretty well but it was surprising to hear her acting this way. She was one who thought on facts, not feeling and in some way, she still was. However, she was confusing the two now and-

"Are you satisfied?" Legretta spoke up.

Jade lifted his gaze and gave a nod as he pushed up his glasses. "I am." Was his simple reply before the afternoon bell rang.

**TBC ...**

**Review, please!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Super late, I know. Didn't have internet or a computer for half a year. Currently going through that bumpy patch in life. Hope this will do you all over until I can get the next one up. If my memory serves me correctly, I've basically introduced everyone minus a couple teachers and such. Enjoy!**

**Warning: contains angst (hey, it had to show up sometime)**

The slim fingers that tugged through her hair were nothing close to gentle. As the finger tips dug into her skull, she could already feel the ghostly presence of an upcoming headache. The sharp pain when she was being pulled back up to her feet caused a tiny whimper to bubble from her lips.

"Appears like our little piglet doesn't want to play anymore." Though the words were spoken more to the group, the boy was muttering them darkly into her ear as if to test his _theory_.

Bright pink locks once tied up perfectly into a ponytail now laid across her face and sticking out in every direction. Dark pink eyes gazed forward, shaking with worry and from an old nightmare that had started anew.

"You're still as much of a wimp as were back then." A smooth, feminine tone jeered at her.

There sounded a separate female laugh. "What a stupid girl, she never learns."

"I'm not stupid!" The victim shouted in protest, reaching up to try and undo the fingers. "And I'm not a wimp either. You're the real cowards."

The hold on her hair tightened dangerously and she was reduced to mumbling all over again. A hard expression made its way into his eyes but the victim couldn't see it.

"You think you can call me a coward and get away with it? Come on now, piglet, you should know by now that I'm not so easily persuaded."

She took in a deep breath of air and tried to shake him. "Please Mitch, I'm sorry. You're not a coward."

Stretching his lips into that familiar crooked smile, the boy pushed at the much smaller girl's hair, forcing her head to tilt back. "You know, somehow I don't believe you. You could just be saying that so I'll leave you alone. Is that what you're trying to do, piglet? Trying to get rid of me?"

"I-I-I-" She tried but was cut off by a new hand covering her mouth. One of the girl's. _Oh no_ ...

The next thing she saw was the butt end of a broomstick come crashing down on Mitch's head. His grip on the girl loosened dramatically and the victim fell against a locker and out of arms reach.

"Dammit, Stratmon!" A voice snapped, clearly beyond annoyed. Though the smallest girl hadn't a clue who the voice belonged to, Mitch knew and that was enough.

Just when the boy had picked up his feet to start booking it in the other direction, a hand shoot out and snagged the back of his collar, cutting him short.

That was when the girl was presented the image of her savior. He'd have had the tall, dark and handsome look down if his hair hadn't been blond. With Mitch in one hand and broom in the other, she never would have thought she'd find being saved by the janitor so relieving.

He didn't have his usual smile on though. Apparently the two had a history because Mitch looked unsure and Guy just looked annoyed. "You're always causing trouble, Mitch and now I find you here picking on a Cadette? What is the matter with you? And a _girl_ no less!"

"She was asking for it." Mitch spoke sternly, his glare set on the girl but it wavered a bit when Guy tugged on his shirt, hauling him up to his proper height. Frighteningly enough, the boy was only one head shorter then the janitor.

"By doing what? You probably just cornered her during break so you could pick on her during class. Thought you could get away with that, huh?" He tested but left no room for comments as he turned to face the two girls. His glare wasn't there for them but his voice still held authority. "I don't know if you ladies do this often but you two _will_ be dealt with as well. Get to class." When neither of them moved, he sighed. "_Now_." His voice insisted.

Both girls exchanged looks with themselves and Mitch before turning in opposite directions to head to class. The victim watched them both go with worry. Both girls had been Mitch's little lackeys for as long as they had started picking on her. Neither of them changed. Neither of them tried to put up the good girl front either so she figured Guy must have just not dealt with them before.

"Miss." A voice called and the victim's attention was brought back to the janitor. She nodded to show he had her attention but said nothing in fear she'd slip something up. He was giving her a gentle smile though, clearly showing that he was just there to help. "You should head to class as well. Once I bring Mitch up to the office, I'll come give your teacher an excuse for you being late. Sound good?"

Fear shattered her expression from its (remotely) calm look but before she could bring up her protest, Guy was already dragging Mitch by the arm past her. "Don't worry." He replied to her silent plea. "I won't tell anybody other then the principal what's going on here."

That answer didn't really satisfy her but she was simply trying her best to keep her eyes away from Mitch. She certainly didn't need to look up to know that he had a murderous stare. She knew Guy was only trying help but she knew better then anyone that this was truly going to come back to haunt her. It wouldn't matter if Mitch got expelled, he'd still find ways to harass her to and from school.

Once she felt she was completely alone in the halls, her hands shook violently and she crumbled to the floor. She was so thankful it was class time. The odds of anybody finding her crying on the floor like this would be next to none. As long as she kept her voice under control, there was a good chance she could get away with it.

That was good ... because, everything considering, she doubted she could stand.

The only sounds she uttered were when she chocked on her own gasps for air, fingers laced together to cover her mouth. With her head tilted back against the lockers, the tears poured down the sides of her face, trickling heavily onto the floor and in her ears. The white noise of the halls fell deafly as more pain pulsed in her ears.

She'd been so relieved when they'd moved up to high school that she'd completely forgotten about them when she herself landed here. In hine sight, that was a very stupid thing to do. What would possibly make them forget about her? She was the perfect little victim in their eyes. She was small, relatively quiet and kept to herself. She didn't have many friends and she certainly didn't have a white knight to come save her every time.

Oh yes, she was perfect.

The fingers that had been covering her mouth reached up into her hair and pressed painfully against her skull.

Why again? Why her?

There was a screech to her right and without bothering to look and see what it was, she instinctively rubbed at her face, wiping away the tears the best she could and kept her head low. She didn't doubt that her eyes were swollen by now, plus all the crying had added to her headache. She didn't want to get into some sort of questioning period.

Wobbling slightly, she gathered herself and got to her feet. She turned away from the noise and went to make a dash before the voice caught her heart and she forgot what she had been trying to do.

"Arietta?"

_No ... not him, not right now. Go away, come back later. Later!_

The footsteps were a little heavy and quicker, which meant he was jogging, which meant that even if she'd wanted to run at this point, she wouldn't have been able to outrun him.

"Hey!" He called, practically right behind her. Guilt ran down her spine and her knees shock. She couldn't speak, if she did he'd know she'd been crying. But if she-

"Don't ignore me." He demanded and she flinched. Exactly what she'd worried about.

Instinctively, she took a couple steps forward but the other would have no such action. "We've been wondering where you'd run off to." He grabbed her arm and spun her around without further debate. "It's not like you to skip .... class ...."

_NO!_

"Are you crying?!" He spoke, the clear surprise in his voice and face. "What happened?"

_Don't ask questions! Stop asking questions! No more-_

"Arietta! What happened?! Don't ignore me, you know I won't go away even if you do." He spoke, giving her a little shake. "Arietta!"

"Stop saying my name, Sync!" She screamed, as loud as she possibly could, her hands to her ears and her figure bent like she was in pain. "Stop asking questions!"

The volume, not the words were what surprised the other, his hands in the air as if to show her that she wasn't touching her or anything. Like he was innocent. Which he was but Sync didn't understand that at the moment.

A door opened and out popped the vice principal, who just happened to be visiting that classroom. "What seems to be the problem here?"

"I don't know!" Sync exclaimed, hands still in the air and eyes traveling from Arietta and Jade.

"You're so stupid!" Arietta shouted at him, her face still ducked down but voice still raised. "Maybe if you had half a brain in your head instead of muscle, you'd have figured it out years ago!"

Sync flinched, clearly unsure of what to do. So instead, he went back to the basics of his nature. He kept quiet.

There was a high pitched scream, one that came from deranged lips and it echoed through the empty hall. The girl pressed against her ears harder and the more pressure she put, the louder she screamed.

Stepping toward her and closing the classroom door behind him, Jade reached out toward her and tapped her shoulder. She spun around instantly, made eye contact with him before she turned once more and ran as fast as she could from the direction Sync had come.

The boy watched her run off, rocking on his heels trying to figure if he should go after he or not. On the other hand, Jade had fell oddly silent. His hands were slipped into his pockets and he looked down the hall with a blank expression.

"What did you do?!" Sync questioned, scowling the other a moment before he looked back over to where she'd disappeared. "What the heck is going on?!" He questioned out loud, utterly confused.

"That, my boy," Jade started, patting him on the shoulder calmly, "was the worst mental break down I've seen in years. Perhaps even worse then the one the principal did when that mysterious being chopped off all his hair when we were younger."

Sync shrugged off the touch and moved away from him. "Your pointless stories aren't what I want to hear right now. Don't you have someplace better to be?"

"Don't you? You're very close to that girl, are you not? I see you two together rather often."

"Well yeah, she's practically my best friend but you've obviously never seen Arietta when she's upset. Normally, if she hides out, you can't find her. In her current state, I wouldn't doubt it if she was halfway home already."

"So ... take your pick. Either way, you should probably get out of the hallway. I do believe you have Combat class this period, do you not? If Largo catches you out of class, I can only imagine what he'll do to you."

Sync opened his mouth to say something but figured there wasn't really anything he could say. He'd blabbered himself into a corner.

"If ... if you see her around the school, can you tell her to come to class? Maybe if I talk to her, she'll calm down. It can't be that bad, right? Probably just girl drama. Too much drama. All at once."

"I'll keep my eyes wide open." Jade nodded and then waved him off.

Hesitant at first, Sync finally picked up his feet and jogged toward the t-section of the hall that would lead to the gym. Once there, he stopped and looked down the other way, contemplating one last time if he should go and track her down.

He'd never seen Arietta so upset before ... and sure there had been times when they'd gotten into fights but she'd never raised her voice at him like _that_ before ...

Perhaps it would be better to leave her alone for a while. Wasn't like he wouldn't be able to talk to her later on, right?

Turning on his heels, Sync dashed through the halls, his head filled with worry over Arietta and his heart filled with worry over what he'd missed in class by coming out here.

**TBC ...**

**Review, please!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A happy, fluffy chapter to make up for the previous angst and my absence. Enjoy!**

**Warning: Contains shonen-ai (boy x boy)**

Today was the day. It just had to be. There was no way on Earth that Luke was going to let this go on any damn longer! Sure, Guy had avoided him before because _maybe_ he'd been a little forward at times but now it was just getting ridiculous! The janitor would literally leap around corners and take off running if he so much as gave him a smile and sometimes, even when Luke wasn't looking, Guy would slip out of a classroom or hall because of his mere presence. Of course, Natalia had to be the one to tell him this but really!

Was it such a difficult thing to simply accept his confession? Over the two months, two weeks and five days that Guy had simply avoided him while Luke had waited _patiently_ for a reply, the janitor had only served to add more fuel to the fire. Not to mention the five and a half hours that had already ticked by in today's school day that could have been used to cozy up to his supposed-to-be new lover. Now as he spent the final two minutes and 49 seconds staring up at the clock in hope, Luke's foot was already bouncing under his desk in anticipation.

He had a plan. A masterful, flawless plan. Of course, he knew it was only flawless because he hadn't run it by Natalia, who would have seen a million things wrong with it but Luke was perfectly alright with this information. Simply because today _was_ the day. Whether Guy would agree with it or not. He'd waited too damn long for this to-

The thought was discarded the moment the bell sounded in his ears and Luke was out of his seat before he even remembered to wait to be dismissed. That cost him a whole three minutes of his precious swooning time for a lecture but he let it pass, deciding that now that his plan was going into action, time wouldn't be a factor anymore. Everything would simply fall into place. Love had a way of ... of making these things run smoothly.

As he hurried to his locker, Luke had a large smile spread across his face. He was so excited, it was hard to contain it. He couldn't wait to see the look on Guy's face!

---

"Really, how those children ever managed to get so much slime on the ceiling is beyond me. You are truly a lifesaver, Guy." A hand clasped his shoulder. "Well done."

Guy hung his head. Like it hadn't been obvious who the real culprit was. "Really, sir. That's not necessary. Just happy to do my job."

"Of course!" Peony grinned, giving him another friendly pat. "Why else would you still be here if you didn't enjoy the work?" Guy twitched but Peony was too cheerful to notice as he continued. "No need to worry anymore. Problems solved. You can go back to your class now."

Heaving a sigh beside him, Guy slipped out of his hold and started to gather up his cleaning materials. Looking over at Peony, he let his gaze slid back toward the teacher. Guy had learned that the science teacher Ms. Nephry and Peony had quite a history but what he found even more horrible was the fact that poor Nephry was related to the one and only Jade, who was currently trying to talk his sister down from starting a screaming match with Peony. Or at least lecturing him for disrupting her class yet again and messing with her students experiments and well, over all just being _Peony_.

"Sir, I think you should go and apologize. You're never going to get on her good side if all you ever do is mess with her class." Guy offered, lifting his mop pail with his foot, tossing it up and then catching the handle with two fingers.

Looking over at the janitor, Peony stared at him a long while before he cracked a smile and gave a laugh. He patted the other on the back again. "Oh, Guy. You have so much to learn about woman."

It took every part of Guy's being to not repeat the same information back to him so he settled for turning around and picking up the mop and broom. Placing them over his shoulder, he slid the mop pail onto the handles and then gave the principal a nod. "Let Jade know that if you need anymore cleaning up, I'll be in my ... office, cleaning off my mop."

Peony waved at him. "Yes, yes. You'll likely be called once again very soon. Don't go far."

"Yes, sir." He mumbled as he slipped out of the classroom and heaved a sigh as the door clicked shut behind him. He was never going to get used to working for this staff or this school. It didn't even pay all that well. Why was he still here anyway? Oh right, the memories. The fact that this was home. The comforting idea of familiar surroundings.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Guy made his way to his _office_ or better known as the janitor's closet.

The dreaded closet.

It wasn't like his situation had really improved since the little incident earlier on in the year. After he'd given Jade the response to ignore the student, he'd been pestered by the vice principal everyday about it even if it was a _subtle_ jab to his subconscious that wasn't ever really subtle. To top that off, occasionally he'd get pitiful looks from Natalia followed by scowls from Asch who was simply stressed over the idea that his girlfriend was worried over her best friend. Not to mention Guy's own guilt that was building whenever he saw the near desperate look Luke would have on his face when all he would do was offer a smile or a wave. Guy could never stand to look at that for too long and always got an overwhelming urge to get as far away from that sad smile as he possibly could. Who would ever guess that simply avoiding somebody was so nerve wracking?

Yet another sigh passed his lips as he unlocked and opened the door, flicking on his light. He had to learn to stop thinking such depressing thoughts. He had to cheer up. Placing the broom and mop off to the side, Guy set the bucket down next to a rather large sink when something caught his eye.

The dread followed as he turned to the side fully.

"Hey there, big boy." The tone was still flirtatious and even the posture the other held as he sat upon that stool was meant as tempting.

_Big boy_? Guy blinked and took a couple steps backward. Soon, he lingered in the doorway. "Okay, Luke, I'd _love_ to hear about why you're here but what I'd really like to know is how the heck you got in here. The door was locked!"

"I think," Luke started, slowly getting to his feet and taking a couple strides toward the other. "The better question would be why it is that I haven't been here before."

"W-What?!" Guy questioned, his hands rising slowly and he looked plenty ready to book it in the opposite direction.

Luke halted his advance for a moment and tapped his boot clad foot on the ground. "Come on, really? It's the _janitor's closet_, Guy. What else do people use this place for?"

Guy noticeably shivered at the words, clearing having the memories of being the one to walk in on such moments. "That's exactly why I have a lock on it and exactly why you shouldn't be here."

"Why? Is it too _tempting_ for me to be here?" Luke nearly smirked, taking a step forward. "The lock sounds like an incentive."

Guy looked pained. "Luke, really, I- you shouldn't be in here. How'd you even get in? I still have my key, so you clearly could have only gotten in if .... if ....." Any awkwardness and guilt he had building up for Luke was now squashed by the annoyance he was now feeling toward a certain somebody.

Giving a sigh, he rubbed fingers against his temples. "It was Jade, wasn't it? Jade unlocked it for you."

"I told him I had to get a broom for Ms. Legretta. He let me in no problem and then he left because of some emergency. So I hung back here without him noticing. Pretty clever, huh?" Luke grinned, hands on hips.

Guy nearly snorted. "Sounds like I'm the one who got duped."

"Pardon?"

Guy waved his hand in the air. "Nothing. You should leave. Like right now. Out, Luke."

"No."

There was a moment there where Guy literally didn't know what to think. Looking over at the other, he now realized that the student was standing right in front of him, looking up at him with that damn pained look. Out of instinct or maybe because he knew Luke wouldn't leave anyway, Guy tried to make a run for it. Unfortunately, Luke reached out and wrapped his hands around the straps of his overalls and tugged him back into the closet. Moving behind him, he shut the door while Guy tried to find someway out of this situation.

"You're not leaving and neither am I until _you_ give me a straight answer."

"Luke, you already _know _my answer." Guy tried, definitely looking out of place.

The redhead's expression turned stubborn for a moment before he moved over to the other. Placing a hand on his chest, Luke dragged his hand down to his stomach with a flashy little smile. Well, at least he tried to but Guy had caught his hand and was now holding it away from his body. "I think," Luke tried once more with his other hand but this time tried to trail his fingers up the others neck and into his hair. That was snatched up before it barely grazed the surface. "That you're just scared of what people will think and so you don't want to give me your real answer."

"What?" Guy questioned, holding both hands away from him. He pushed Luke backwards until he was urging the other to sit back down on the stool. "You're kidding, right? Not only are you a student but this is extremely inappropriate behavior. For any age!"

"Don't feed me that line!" Luke protested, tugging at his hands. "It's called seduction and since you clearly are too paranoid to give me a straight answer, I have to resort to these forms of methods."

"I'm not paranoid and don't call it that, Luke. It just sounds awkward." Guy sighed softly.

"For who?" Luke questioned, tugging harder at his hands. Finally, he seemed to accept the seat and sat without protest. "The only reason you'd find it awkward would be-"

"No, no, no and whatever you are thinking after that: _no_. You can't be chasing after a faculty member like this. It's not healthy. It's not responsible."

"So you're telling me that I have to be _responsible_ with who I fall for?"

Guy nearly got stuck on what to say. It was so hard to argue against love. It was just one of those stupid subjects that had no logic or facts behind it. He opened his mouth to say something but Luke cut in.

"That being so completely _into_ you isn't _healthy_?"

Guy tried again but this time, his reasoning had died off. Instead, he started to care less and less on making him out to be the nice guy. "Of course its not! What would ever make you think it was?"

Luke looked outraged but for some reason he took a deep breath, let it out and then set his stare on Guy. Their eyes locked for a long while until Luke finally gave a small smile. "I think that the only reason it'd ever be unhealthy is if you've always got this firm of a grip."

At those words, Guy practically threw his hands away. His face was burning pink. "Do you ever even _listen_ to yourself talk? I feel embarrassed for you."

"Ohh, there isn't a need for that, Guy. I know exactly what I'm saying and I know exactly what I mean by them."

"No, you don't." Guy protested, taking a step back and pointing at the other. "You're a Sailor, for crying out loud. I didn't know what even _I_ wanted until I'd graduated."

Luke made a face and eyed the other up and down. Since it was more of a curious glance then a sexual one, Guy didn't feel the need to distract the other with something else. It was still awkward though. "You always aspired to be a janitor?"

"What? No, of course not. I just didn't have the money to afford going to post second- why am I talking to you about this? Get out of my office, Luke." He pointed behind him.

Luke - big surprise - didn't so much as flinch. Instead, he looked up at Guy with that pain stricken face again. Guy was beginning to wonder if Luke was catching on about what that expression did to his subconscious. Of course, Guy was giving Luke way too much credit.

"Is it so hard to simply be in the same room as me? Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to .... to finally tell you?"

_Ugh, don't do it, Guy. Don't cave._ "I can imagine it'd be even harder because of my position but still. Have you ever bothered to just sit down and actually _think_ about it?"

"Of course I have! What kind of a stupid question is that? I spend practically ... every waking moment thinking about it. In fact, there are probably no minutes in the day where you don't cross my mind ... at least once." Luke mumbled, his tone becoming softer. He was clearly starting to hit soft spots that were closer to home.

Now what was Guy supposed to say to that? In some weird, messed up way, he was flattered that anybody could possibly adore him enough to think about him that much but once again, morals flooded his mind and that idea was watered down. Rubbing the side of his face with his palm, he looked over at the other. Luke was currently playing with his fingers and now looking like the one out of place. Guy figured he'd used up all his courage for today on those terrible lines and forward attempts. He was probably feeling discouraged. Which was good for Guy because it meant he could actually talk to the other.

"I don't know what to tell you, Luke. You already have heard everything I need to tell you and if you aren't lying to me, then you yourself have already gone over the consequences of what you're trying to do." Guy waited for a verbal reply but all he got was a nod.

The awkward silence that followed felt like somebody had placed a cloth over his mouth and Guy was finding it hard to breath. Not to mention that even from where he stood, he could easily tell that Luke was breathing even harder. Probably just nervous.

"And I just-"

"What about starting as friends?"

Guy blinked, at a loss for words for only a moment. "_Start_ as friends? Start? Luke, that still means-"

"Don't you find it just the _slightest_ bit ... ridiculous to tell me what I should be feeling? It wasn't like I came to this school, chose you and then went from there. I never _picked_ you." Luke protested. Lifting his gaze, he stared the other down until it was Guy that had to turn his head and look away. "I don't think that's too bad of a request. You're friends with lots of students at the school already, why would it be so bad to simply add me to the list? Or is it _because_ its me that you won't even consider it?"

Guy didn't need the words to know that Luke was desperate at this point. He supposed the boy had a point. He had been persistent in his advances and if anything, they'd only ever gotten more frequent as of late. So he wasn't lying about his affections. It was just ... it was that _start as friends_ line that he couldn't get out of his head. If he agreed to it, it'd be like agreeing to some sort of romantic relationship later on.

Why was love such a bundle of questions with no right answers? Wait, _love_? No, no, this was nothing more then a childish crush. Wanting something you couldn't have. Nothing more ...

"If I agreed to _try_ and be friends with you, would you stop hitting on me?" Guy questioned, just to test the grounds. However, the reaction he got was a little more enthusiastic then he'd expected.

Luke nodded quickly and his smile had grown. "Of course! Well .. I can't promise they'd disappear completely but I can try and hold back for now."

"Not _for now_." Guy added. "And even if I agree, I'm not agreeing to simply _starting out_ as friends. I'm agreeing to a friendship. It's really as far as I can go."

"Of course! I completely understand!" Luke nodded firmly again, this time he was off the stool, looking too excited to sit still.

The blond couldn't believe how happy the other was. He had to be thinking something other then what Guy was offering. He probably wasn't hearing right. Wonderful. Was this just going to lead to something worse? He was now giving Luke an excuse to come and visit him everyday and probably during every period. Was it really worth that to try and get him to falter in his feelings? Or would that just fuel them?

Giving a sigh, Guy rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead and looked up to the ceiling. What was he doing? Was it because he felt obligated to make up for being such an ass? "Don't get so excited now. I'm not offering you the numbers to the lottery or anything."

Luke moved forward and wrapped his arms tightly around the other. Caught by surprise, Guy placed his hands on the other's shoulders and gave him a small shove. The student was latched on too well and he was currently nuzzling his face into the other's shoulder. "No way, this is way better then any stupid numbers." He mumbled softly.

Heaving a sigh, Guy gave a single pat to the other's head, eyes still on the ceiling. "Alright, Luke. You've had your hug now get off before I have to pry you off myself. I can still retract my offer, you know."

Giving a small laugh, Luke slipped his arms away before he leaned up and placed a quick kiss to the other's jaw bone. Guy's hand shot up in surprise and soon he was scowling the other as the student moved toward the door. "I just finished telling you-"

"You owed me one for the humiliation." Luke spoke simply, his back to the other because he didn't want the other to catch just how red his face was. His lips were tingling and his stomach was buzzing. Not to mention that he currently felt on Cloud 9 because of Guy's scent lingering in his nose and the feel of the other's body still in his arms. "I'm just taking it while I have the chance."

"You can't-"

"I'll see you tomorrow, Guy. Tomorrow is our first official day as friends so don't go avoiding me or anything. I'm holding you to your word." Luke spoke quietly as he opened the door and slipped out.

"First official _nothing_! I didn't even fully agree to _be_ friends with you! Luke!" Guy shouted after the boy but by the time Guy was standing in the doorway of the closet, Luke was long gone. He obviously didn't want to be there to hear Guy's protest so that he could pretend it never happened.

He grumbled loudly to himself and turned back toward the closet. He looked into it and flicked off the light. Highly annoyed with himself, Guy flung the door closed and nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized somebody was standing behind it.

Guess who?

"Guy, my dear boy, you look positively tickled pink." The smirk on his face only lead Guy to hate himself more.

Guy rolled his eyes and locked the door behind himself. "This is all your fault. If you hadn't opened the door, I would have never had to deal with this."

"Oh but you look like you worked it out just fine. Your face tells me everything." Jade pointed to his own cheeks and tapped them. "Well, more like the color of your face. You look flushed. I can only assume something good happened for you to be so-"

"Agitated? Annoyed? Mortified?" Guy filled in dramatically, pocketing the key.

Jade smiled. "-so happy you just don't know how to contain it."

"Hardly! What are you rambling about? Go away, already."

"Are you still doing that wishful thinking of yours?" Jade questioned, looking curious. "I happen to enjoy your company very much. As I see you also do for a certai-"

"Quit it!" Guy cried, hands to his ears for a moment. "I agreed to be friends, alright?! Sort of. Well, no, not even that, really, but he took it as that and now he's probably getting his hopes up right now and it'll be all my fault when he's sobbing in a corner and then you can come and laugh at me then!"

Jade made a couple disapproving noises. "Touch-y. Really, Guy, where are your manners? Or does an encounter with your future love really put you in that much of a twist?"

"Argh!"

---

"Don't touch that." Natalia smacked Asch's hand as he'd went to poke at the treat she'd been attempting to make. As per normal, it wouldn't be a true Natalia creation without the strong burnt smell and odd shape.

"I still don't understand why you try so hard to learn this stuff. You don't _have_ to know how to cook." He sighed, leaning against the counter.

Natalia huffed her cheeks, scowling the charcoal'd ... whatever it was. "That is beside the point. It is proper etiquette for a lady to be able to cook a decent and healthy meal."

Asch opened his mouth to say something but like usual, Natalia cut him off. "And it is not like I try and experiment. I do exactly as the recipe says and yet, somehow, it always turns out for the worst. I must be cursed when it comes to such simple tasks."

A small smirk playing on his lips, the red head leaned over and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Maybe cooking was just never meant to be your specialty. Don't read too much into it."

The moment and words didn't even have time to sink into Natalia before the home economics door was thrown open and in bounced one very excited Luke. "He-" He voice cut off as he took in a large breath of air.

Natalia, still in her shocked state, pushed herself away from the counter and wandered over to him. "Oh dear, Luke, are you alright?"

"He ... he said yes! He agreed!" Luke finally managed to catch his breath. He'd run all over the school trying to find Natalia to tell her the news. If it hadn't been for his current bubbling, he'd surely be exhausted.

"W-What?" Natalia stuttered. "Guy?!"

Luke stood upright, the grin plastered all over his being. "It took a lot of persuasion but he agreed to be friends ... but .... but that's a start, right? I mean, he said yes!"

Natalia found a smile being tugged onto her lips and she clapped her hands together. "Oh, Luke, that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you!"

The sheepish smile on his face was beaming with pride and love and whatever else could still be fit in there. He was almost too happy to describe. "The condition was that I wasn't allowed to hit on him as much but that still means I've got a chance, right?"

Natalia still had a smile but it had faded a bit. "Maybe. I hate to bring you down a bit but he could just simply want to stay as friends. Don't get too excited, alright?"

"Too late. Nothing could bring me down right now." Luke sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead. "I think- I think I need to go lay down though. I'm light headed, can barely concentrate. I just wanted you to be the first to hear it."

As he gulped loudly, Natalia giggled behind her hand. "Well I appreciate it. Go lay down before you pass out in the halls."

Luke didn't wait another moment before spinning on his heels and booking it down the hall once more. "And make sure you get to your next class!" Natalia called after him.

Once he was out of sight, she closed the door once more, the laugh still on her voice. "Oh, I'm so happy for him. Did you see how excited he was?"

"Yeah." Asch replied shortly. Not that he didn't care, he just .... well, alright, maybe he really didn't care. It was Luke after all, why would he care about what that kid did?

Natalia was used to such a reaction so it didn't dampen her mood. "He's waited so long for something to happen. This must be the happiest moment of his life. I wonder what he did to convince Guy. Usually, he runs his ideas by me first but I heard nothing about going to talk to him recently."

"Maybe he finally decided to try something on his own. Clever."

"Oh, don't be so mean." Natalia chuckled, moving in front of him and wrapping her arms around his waist. Nuzzling herself into his chest, she smiled. "Watching others fall in love is nearly as wonderful as being in it."

"_Nearly_?" Asch repeated, placing one hand to her head to play with her hair as the other went to her waist.

Lifting her head, Natalia smiled and stepped on her toes to place a kiss to his lips. Pulling away, she chuckled at the quiet smile she fell in love with. "The real thing is much more appealing."

**TBC ...**

**Review, please!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I apologize for my very long absence**.

"Anise, isn't this a little ... rude?"

"What? It's not rude unless we get caught. Aren't you curious?"

"Well yeah but I don't want to-"

"Shh, they're coming!"

Swatting her hands down, she ducked back into her hiding place a moment, her and Ion cuddled close to one another in secrecy. They were quiet for a few moments before Anise peeked around to gaze into the window.

"Anise, please, if he catches me-"

Moving away from the window, Anise turned to give her new found friend a scowl. She'd grown quite close to Ion within these past few months and now well into the winter, she had grown to know his personality pretty well. He was far too passive for his own good. "He's not going to catch you if you play along. Besides, we're only here for information. It's not like he _tells_ you anything. Don't you want to know anything about your own brother?"

"He likes his privacy. He gets defensive if you bother him."

"Really? _Really_? After that big blow out at school, all the rumors circling around and you aren't in the least bit curious to know how he's making out?"

Ion looked hesitant for a moment. "Well .. He does seem ... different at home ..." His eyes slid back over to Anise, who looked like she'd just one a prestigious competition. "But I'm not saying I want to butt into his business. If he was really upset about something, he'd tell me!"

"Would he?" Anise questioned, crossing her arms. She'd learned a couple things from Jade on how to get the answer one wanted to hear.

Ion bit his lip before he looked defeated. "....No but he knows I'm always there to listen."

"Not good enough. Now we're investigating and I don't want to hear another peep about it. Besides, I'm here not only for my own curiosity but Peony wanted to know how Arietta is doing."

It was then that Ion's face fell a bit. "The principal?"

"Wouldn't you be concerned about your students if they had to under go such torment?"

Something about that line sounded terribly rehearsed. "Alright, fine but only for a quick look. We're not sticking around."

"Good enough for me. Now let's go inside." Reaching forward, she grabbed at his wrist and began to tug him toward the entrance, much to his protest.

It took a while to find a table far enough away from their target so as to not raise suspicion but close enough to hear what was being said. It took even longer to get Ion to simply calm down. It wasn't spying, Anise had to tell him, it was necessary observation in order to ensure the safety and happiness of their peers. Again, Ion couldn't help but feel like that line was rehearsed for this very situation. Had she planned on dragging him along in the first place? It hadn't just been a wrong place at the wrong time kinda situation?

So he got suckered into listening but only because he managed to convince Anise that it would be a terrible chance to keep peeking over the ledge like she'd been trying to do earlier. The divider would ensure their secrecy. She'd thought it was a brilliant idea. Ion just didn't want to retribution if they got busted.

"-I mean, I just don't ... get it." Sync sounded distressed, something Ion wasn't sure he'd ever heard before. At least, not honestly.

A female sigh. "Well what was I supposed to say to you?" That was definitely Arietta, her voice was quiet and even Anise was having a hard time picking up what she was saying. "If I'd told you the truth, you'd have tried something. I-" She paused, her voice now nervous. "I didn't ... want you to get hurt."

"Come on, Arietta, that isn't fair. We've been friends for ages, how do you think it makes _me_ feel now knowing all those times you wouldn't talk to me was because you'd been getting beat up? All those days of school you'd miss?"

She was quiet and Ion could have guessed she was probably tearing up by the way Sync was now trying to gain back a little bit of human sympathy. "No, no, sorry, I just- you _should_ have told me. I know I definitely _would_ have done something but you should have told me anyway .... I'd have liked to help."

And the silence grew. Suddenly, both were very quiet and neither said a word. Eventually, Anise turned to Ion and breathed a very quiet, "Shesh, they're making _me_ feel awkward." She didn't seem in the least bit concerned which Ion rather understood with a quiet smile. At times, she was a lot more adorable then she gave herself credit for. Well, she knew she was cute, she flaunted that whenever she worked up in the office- Ohཀ

"So Anise, how is office life treating you?" It wasn't like the people they were _investigating_ were doing any talking. Arietta was too quiet. Sync had never known how to talk to a girl. It could be ages before they even coughed to fill the silence.

That immediately caught her attention but then she suddenly looked a little guilty. She paused a moment, concentrated to see if they were talking again and finally decided to speak up. Quietly, of course.

Her entire presence completely unfolded. "Ohh, it's great! I don't understand how nobody can stand working up there for too long. I mean, I've been told by a couple seniors that I'd have to be completely crazy. And you know the cute janitor? The blond one?"

Ion chuckled. "I've been there longer then you have and I _am_ a year older. We only have one janitor, Anise."

"Right, sorry, but he's always telling me I have a crazy amount of patience to help out there. I mean, it's not as bad as everybody seems to keep warning me about. It's a lot of fun! I work there in between classes and help Frings answer phone calls during the lunch hour so that he can go eat. For some reason, he always said he could never get the opportunity to. Something about constant distractions but whenever I go, the only people who are even there are Jade and Peony."

Ion nodded, knowing full well what the secretary was talking about and feeling pity for the man. It was rather cute, however, that Anise didn't seem to catch on. "Uh huh." He spoke, to show that she had his attention.

"And then when classes are over, I go after school and Jade always has something or other for me to do. Sometimes its emailing stuff or calling somebody. He likes me to call people. He always says everything sounds better coming from a cute voice." She beamed at the mention and pointed to the corner of her lips before breaking into a large smile as if to prove the statement true. "Oh and I get to talk to Peony lots too and he tells me all kinds of stories. Like, did you know that Jade and Professor Nephry are siblings? I mean, they looked similar but I'd have never guessed that. Oh and the janitor, Guy, did you know that when he went to school there only a couple years ago? Apparently he was Jade's favorite student and that's why Jade insisted on keeping him around. Oh and did you know-"

Ion giggled. Anise cut herself off. "What?"

Leaning on his hand, Ion couldn't help but smile. "You sound so happy."

"I am happy!" She insisted and her smile proved just that.

"No, no, I mean you sound_ really happy_."

Apparently Anise didn't understand being subtle. "Is that a bad thing?" Her blank expression was too hard to not chuckle over once more.

"No, far from it. Please, continue."

And she did. Ion listened as she remembered fact after fact and story after story and a play-by-play of every day she found amusing. He wondered if she realized how excited she got whenever she talked about Jade and her office adventures. He was pretty sure she was completely aware of how much she loved what she was doing (otherwise she wouldn't be chattering at him) but he wondered if she noticed that her smile had gotten bigger ever since Jade had insisted she start helping them out. Her spirits got brighter somehow. Her energy increased. He hadn't seen her look so much as bored in the months he'd been hanging out with her. He wasn't sure if that was normal for her, having not really known her before but it was definitely suspicious.

As their lunch hour rolled past, Anise didn't even notice when Sync and Arietta finally got up to leave, their fingers linked shyly together.

---

"Why didn't you tell me they'd left?" Anise practically cried, removing her pink toque from her head and shaking off the snow onto the carpet. She stopped her feet a couple times before starting to unzip her coat.

Ion was unwrapping the white scarf from his neck. "I didn't want to be there in the first place and I was listening to you. You were much more entertaining."

"But I wanted to know! Now what am I going to tell them?"

"Them?"

"Jade and Peony, of course. Who else?"

"Anise, do you have any friends in school ... besides me?"

"I have plenty of classmates-"

"No." Ion spoke, stomping his own feet on the carpet to get rid of the snow that covered his black boots. "I mean, kids you hang out with after school and talk with and stuff."

Anise looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging. "I guess not really but I mean, you don't need a lot of friends, you just need a few really good ones." She winked and fluffed her coat out just in case any giant snowflakes had decided to cling to it.

Ion sighed softly but smiled. His suspicions were only growing.

"You two are currently my two favorite students right now."

Both looked to their left where Guy was leaning against a mop, staring down at their feet. "Every last kid that has come in from lunch hour," he continued. "Has just walked on by, melting their shoes all over my freshly cleaned floor."

Anise laughed. "Don't you just love winter?"

"I hate it so much when it comes to my job that I can't even follow your sarcasm with my own." Guy sighed, standing himself up straight.

"Well that's no good." Ion replied. "Oh and you're very welcome."

Guy smiled. "Thank you. Now you better head off to class. Bell already rang."

"Oh no!" Anise cried, scurrying down the halls with urgency in her steps. Ion was soon to follow.

---

"Today, we start Shakespeare." The English teacher spoke, a thrill in his voice no one could possibly match.

A chorus of groans and quiet protest went through out the class but was silenced immediately when a ruler came slapping down onto the desk. Someone giggled.

"How could it be that a class of Pilots still doesn't hold any respect for such an artist?" His hands rose, swaying as if to put motion to his words. "His words hold a beauty those of this world fail to use anymore and his genius is packed into every verse he spells out."

Someone familiar raised their hand. "I like Shakespeare, Professor Dist."

"Ha!" The professor cried, his ruler pointed at the student. "Don't think I don't know you better, Genji, you are always the first one to space out when we start the readings."

The class giggled but Genji only looked mildly embarrassed. He was so used to getting picked on in this class. He absolutely _hated_ English. The professor knew it. He'd have to be a rather large idiot to not notice. In fact, if it wasn't one of those stupid mandatory classes, he'd refuse to take it at all.

Glancing over to his right, he saw that his sister was in fact already doodling on her paper. She was good at English but she didn't really fancy it much either. They both had the same dream after all. Ever since they'd been kids, both of them had wanted nothing more then to grow up and become a pilot. Noelle's dream had practically diminished as of late but he was sure she'd come around. For that, they needed sciences, mathematics, Artes and practically everything else but this stupid English course.

"Doesn't mean I don't like _him_." Genji protested, his eyes set on the man.

But Dist didn't so much as waver. "I don't have a problem with failing you now, Genji. Learn to keep your mouth shut. You are sullying the beauty of his literature already and I haven't even handed them out yet."

Rolling his eyes, Genji decided it best to just do what he was told. It was the best way for this class to end quickly.

In return, the class rolled along just as it was supposed to and Genji really didn't bother trying to concentrate. Instead, he let his eyes wander about the class, his book open but probably not to the right page.

Then came the knock at the door.

Dist ignored it.

Already there was a humorous aura starting to build within the classroom.

The knock came twice.

Dist flinched but again, ignored it.

Someone in the back couldn't help but giggle.

"Quiet!" Dist called out and soon the knock came louder. "For goodness sake, _go away_."

There was silence, as if the visitor was actually debating it before the knock came once more. A frustrated cry came from the English professor who leaned closer to his book and began reading the verses louder.

Soon came a jingle, the knob turned and the door opened. Dist fell quiet but only out of what looked like pure rage.

Guy was retracting his keys. Jade gave him a smile. "Thank you, Guy."

"Anytime." The janitor spoke and simply walked away.

Jade turned and stood in the entrance. He peaked in, looked over the class and then back at Dist who by now was pink with frustration. "Well, go on, I'm only here to observe."

Reluctantly, Dist turned back to his class, lifted the book and motioned for everyone to do the same. Then he began to read.

"I never understood why Shakespeare was to be taught in a classroom." Jade interrupted and Dist slammed his book shut, tensing up at the shoulders. "I understand that it's supposed to be brilliant but- ahh, yes, I suppose that's the wrong way to phrase it. I never really understood why they let _you_ teach Shakespeare."

"Get out of my classroom, _Jade_! My students and I are trying to get through at least _one_ class where you don't come along to interrupt it!" Dist scowled, pointing the book threateningly at him.

Jade looked mildly amused. "Proper grammar even, I'm impressed."

"You should be!" Dist tossed the book onto his desk where it bounced and nearly fell off. "I went to university for this job and I am perfectly qualified!"

The vice principal nodded. "I wouldn't have hired you otherwise."

"You never hired me at all! I came here with a promise that you were no longer working here. That you had decided to go elsewhere."

"Only a true imbecile would believe such an obvious lie."

"_Get out_!!" Dist shouted, his patience gone.

"Really, Professor, how long have you known me? What do you think are the odds of me listening to anything you say?"

By now the class was trying to hold back their laughter. Most had to bow their heads to hide the grins, some simply covered their mouths but a couple others couldn't help but let the giggles escape.

This was the reason everyone had a hard time taking this class seriously.

"Jade, I swear-" Dist started, teeth clenched.

Raising a hand, Jade waved a finger. "Now now, we don't want any violence to start. You should really learn to control your temper, Professor. You _are_ a role model to your students."

"Then what are you, exactly?!"

"Me?" Jade questioned, looking slightly innocent. "Why, I'm simply the vice principal. Nobody cares about whomever fills that role. In fact, some schools don't even have a vice principal."

"I meant that you're a role model too so you should start acting like one."

"But I am. I am going about my duty of seeing how each class is doing. I am performing my job perfectly. Now you, on the other hand, how is it that you have kept this job? With how easily you get distracted, I'm astonished you haven't been fired yet."

"_OUT!_"

"Fine, fine." Jade sighed, looking bored. "Such a lack of manners; that is definitely going on my report." He muttered more to himself.

Dist whipped a book after him in time to catch the door closing as he left.

Now that he was gone and the class was left alone with Dist, they all tried their best to get themselves under control. The professor would need a few moments as well anyway to calm himself down. Soon he wandered over to the book, picked it up and placed it neatly onto his desk. He ran a careful hand over it, grabbed his version of Shakespeare and slowly lifted it up. He opened it to the correct page, found the verse and began to read.

He didn't make it to the third sentence before the bell rang.

The students left in a quick hurry to avoid the fit the Professor was starting to pull.

The last one out shut the door behind themselves.

Even in the busy hall, one could still hear him shouting to himself.

It was amazing anybody ever got anything done in that class.

**TBC ...**

**Review, please!**


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